Latest news with #A115
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Neo-Nazi leader jailed for plot to sabotage power grid
The founder of a neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for plotting to sabotage Baltimore's power grid, the US Attorney's Office for Maryland says. Brandon Russell, 30, of Orlando, Florida, was found guilty at trial earlier in 2025 of conspiring to damage or destroy an energy facility. Senior US District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore handed Russell the maximum sentence for that offence. His convicted co-conspirator in the plot, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 37, of Catonsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty and received an 18-year prison term in September 2024. Prosecutors said the conspiracy targeting several electrical substations around Baltimore, which is predominantly Black and ranks as Maryland's largest city, was aimed at furthering a white supremacist ideology that sought the collapse of American society. "Russell allowed hatred to drive him and his co-conspirator to plot a dangerous scheme that could have harmed thousands of people," US Attorney Kelly Hayes said in a statement announcing Thursday's sentencing. Evidence presented at trial showed that between November 2022 and his arrest in February 2023, Russell hatched a plan to simultaneously attack five substation transformers with gunfire in an attempt to cause a cascading city-wide power failure. Prosecutors said such an attack, had they been carried out, would have caused more than $US75 million ($A115 million) in damage. Russell's lawyer Ian J Goldstein had argued that Clendaniel was "the more culpable of the two defendants" and was seeking a lesser sentence than she received. "We will be filing an immediate appeal," Goldstein said in an email to the New York Times on Thursday. "There are significant appellate issues relating to what we believe to be the unlawful warrantless surveillance of Brandon Russell, a United States citizen protected by the Constitution." Reached by text message on a plane, Goldstein told Reuters he was accurately quoted by the Times. Russell founded a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organisation that tracks US hate groups. He was previously sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of an unregistered destruction device and the improper storage of explosive materials in connection with an alleged plot to attack power lines in Florida. A confidential informant helped lead the FBI back to Russell while he was still under supervised release from the Florida case, linking him to encrypted internet messages from a user known as "Homunculus" urging attacks on electrical substations, according to federal authorities.
7NEWS
6 days ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
China used to fine couples for having too many babies. Now it can't pay them enough
Zane Li was nine years old when he got a baby sister — and her arrival plunged the family in a small city in eastern China into crippling debt. Under China's stringent one-child policy at the time, Li's parents were fined 100,000 yuan (about $A21,440) for having a second child — nearly three times their annual income from selling fish at the local market. 'We were barely able to survive,' Li recalled. The then third-grader was forced to grow up overnight, taking on most of the housework and spending school holidays helping his mother at her stall. Now 25, Li says he has no plans to have children — a stance increasingly common for his generation and something that worries China's government as it tries to avert a population crisis of its own making. For decades, officials pressured couples to have fewer children, through hefty fines, forced abortions and sterilisations, only to now plead with Li's generation to make more babies. Last week, in the latest push to boost flagging birth rates, China announced it would offer parents an annual subsidy of 3600 yuan ($A772) for every child until age three, effective retroactively from January 1. But for many young adults like Li, the offer falls flat. 'The cost of raising a child is enormous, and 3600 yuan a year is a mere drop in the bucket,' said Li, who took out a student loan to study for a master's degree in health services in Beijing. Raising a child to the age of 18 costs an average of 538,000 yuan ($A115,345) in China, more than six times its GDP per capita — making it one of the most expensive places in the world to have children in relative terms, according to a recent study by the Beijing-based YuWa Population Research Institute. In Shanghai, the cost soars past 1 million yuan, with Beijing close behind at 936,000 yuan. '(Having kids) would only bring more hardship,' said Li, who's anxious about his job prospects and contemplating pursuing a PhD. 'I'm not a capitalist or anything, and my kid probably wouldn't have much of a good life either.' Such a dim outlook on future parenthood — fueled by China's slowing economy and soaring youth unemployment — presents a major hurdle to the government's push for young people to get married and have children. Faced with a shrinking workforce and a rapidly aging population, China scrapped its one-child policy in 2016, allowing couples to have two children, then three in 2021. But birth rates have continued to slide. The population has now been shrinking for three consecutive years despite a modest rebound in births last year, and experts are now warning of an even sharper decline. From fines to subsidies The newly announced national childcare subsidy marks a significant step in China's pro-birth campaign. For years, local authorities have experimented with a raft of incentives — from tax breaks, housing perks and cash handouts to extended maternity leave. Now, the central government is taking the lead with a standardised, nationwide program, allocating 90 billion yuan ($A19.2 billion) in subsidies expected to benefit 20 million families this year. 'It's no longer just a local experiment,' Emma Zang, a demographer and sociology professor at Yale University, said. 'It's a signal that the government sees the birth rate crisis as urgent and national. 'The message is clear: we're not just telling you to have babies, we are finally putting some money on the table.' The new scheme, which also offers partial subsidies for children under three born prior to 2025, has been welcomed by eligible parents, but Zang said it's unlikely to move the needle on the fertility rate. Similar policies have largely failed to boost births in other East Asian societies like Japan and South Korea, she added. For many Chinese young people grappling with unattainable housing prices, long workdays and a precarious job market, the subsidy doesn't even begin to address the deep-seated anxieties that underpin their reluctance to start a family. 'It's really not just about the cost. Many young adults are sceptical about the future, such as job security, aging parents, social pressure, so a cash handout doesn't address the emotional fatigue people are facing these days,' Zang said. The irony of the shift from fining parents for unsanctioned births to subsidising them to have more children is not lost on China's millennials and Gen Zs — especially those who have witnessed the harsh penalties of the one-child policy firsthand. On Chinese social media, some users have posted photos of old receipts showing the fines their parents once paid for giving birth to them or their siblings. Among them is Gao, who grew up in the remote mountains of Guizhou and asked to only be identified by her family name. The southwestern province is one of China's poorest and was among the many areas granted a carve-out under the one-child policy, allowing rural couples a second child if their firstborn was a girl — a concession to the country's traditional preference for sons. Like her two older sisters, Gao was sent to live with her grandmother shortly after she was born to hide from family planning officials, so that her parents could keep trying for a boy. They went on to have four daughters before finally having a son. Now living in the eastern province of Jiangsu, Gao, 27, says she has no interest in marriage or raising children. 'Knowing that I can't provide a child with a good environment for education and life, choosing not to have one is also an act of kindness,' she said. 'I definitely don't want my child to grow up like me … with no chance of upward mobility and struggling at the bottom of society, just as I have.' Fading optimism For decades, as China's economy boomed and living standards improved, generations of young people had grown up with the belief that they would live a better life than their parents. That optimism is now fading. Today, many youngsters raised on the promise of upward mobility through hard work and education are growing disillusioned: property prices have soared beyond their reach, and a university degree no longer guarantees a good job — with coveted opportunities increasingly going to those with family connections. There is a growing sense of futility that their relentless effort yields only diminishing returns in an ever more competitive society — a trend summed up by the popular buzzword 'involution', a term borrowed from sociology to describe a self-defeating spiral of excessive competition. In response, many are choosing to 'lie flat' — another catchphrase that refers to opting out of the grind of meeting society's expectations, including marriage and child-rearing. June Zhao, 29, grew up in a middle-class family in one of the most 'involuted' places in China: Beijing's Haidian district. Home to three million people and many of the nation's top universities, Haidian is equally famous for its hyper-competitive approach to raising children. Zhao started attending tutoring classes every weekend in third grade — and she was already a few years behind her peers. After finishing her bachelor and postgraduate degrees overseas, Zhao returned to Beijing to work in investor relations. She says the immense pressure she grew up with — and still feels — has played a big part in her decision not to have children. 'The cost is simply too high and the returns too low,' she said. 'In general, I have a rather pessimistic outlook on life — I've put in so much, yet received very little in return.' Zhao considers herself lucky — her job rarely demands much overtime. Even so, she struggles to imagine finding the time to raise a child. After commuting and eating dinner, she has just two or three hours of free time each day before going to bed. It would be even harder for her friends trapped in the '996' grind of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, she said. Like many of her contemporaries, Gao simply is not optimistic about the life she could provide for a child, or the society it would be born into. 'You only feel the urge to have children when you believe the days to come will be good,' she said. Then there's the longstanding gender imbalance in child-rearing, along with the physical and emotional toll it takes on women. In Zhao's case, it was her mother who had to juggle having a full-time job and helping her with homework, or escorting her to tutoring classes. 'I saw firsthand how hard it was for my mother to raise me,' she said. 'I know for a fact that women bear a much heavier burden and cost than men when it comes to raising a family.' As the fertility rate drops, the ruling Communist Party has emphasised women's domestic role as a 'virtuous wife and good mother' —– touting it as a cherished part of China's traditional culture and essential to the 'healthy growth of the next generation'. Officials have exhorted women to establish a 'correct outlook on marriage, childbirth and family'. Zang, the demographer, said it's simply unrealistic to expect women to have more children without addressing the real barriers they face. 'You can't turn back the clock and hope that women will just embrace more traditional roles,' she said. 'Today's young women are highly educated, career oriented, and want more equality. 'Unless policies support that reality through things like paternity leave, workplace protection and flexible jobs, fertility rates won't rebound. 'The government wants more babies, but society isn't structured to support families. 'Right now, parenting looks like a trap, especially for women. Until that changes, subsidies won't be enough.'
The Advertiser
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Thousands of jobs go as Microsoft trims workforce again
Microsoft says it is laying off about 9000 workers, its second mass axing in months and its largest in more than two years. The tech giant began sending out lay-off notices on Wednesday that hit the company's Xbox video game business and other divisions. Among those losing their jobs are 830 workers tied to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials on Wednesday. Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of organisational changes needed to succeed in a "dynamic marketplace". The company won't say the total number of lay-offs except that it was about four per cent of the workforce it had a year ago. A memo to gaming division employees from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business "for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas". Xbox would "follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Spencer wrote. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of June 2024, the last time it reported its annual headcount. Its latest lay-offs would cut fewer than four per cent of that workforce, according to Microsoft. But it has already had at least three lay-offs this year and it's unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost. Either way, a four per cent cut would amount to somewhere in the range of 9000 people. Until now, this year's biggest lay-off was in May, when Microsoft began laying off about 6000 workers, nearly three per cent of its global workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years. The cutbacks come as Microsoft continues to invest huge amounts of money in the data centres, specialised computer chips and other infrastructure needed to advance its AI ambitions. The company anticipated those expenses would cost it about $US80 billion ($A120 billion) in the last fiscal year. Its new fiscal year began on Tuesday. Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on "building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The trimming of the Xbox staff follows Microsoft's years-long expansion of the business surrounding its gaming console, culminating in 2023 with the $US75.4 billion ($A115 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the California-based maker of hit franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Microsoft says it is laying off about 9000 workers, its second mass axing in months and its largest in more than two years. The tech giant began sending out lay-off notices on Wednesday that hit the company's Xbox video game business and other divisions. Among those losing their jobs are 830 workers tied to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials on Wednesday. Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of organisational changes needed to succeed in a "dynamic marketplace". The company won't say the total number of lay-offs except that it was about four per cent of the workforce it had a year ago. A memo to gaming division employees from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business "for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas". Xbox would "follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Spencer wrote. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of June 2024, the last time it reported its annual headcount. Its latest lay-offs would cut fewer than four per cent of that workforce, according to Microsoft. But it has already had at least three lay-offs this year and it's unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost. Either way, a four per cent cut would amount to somewhere in the range of 9000 people. Until now, this year's biggest lay-off was in May, when Microsoft began laying off about 6000 workers, nearly three per cent of its global workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years. The cutbacks come as Microsoft continues to invest huge amounts of money in the data centres, specialised computer chips and other infrastructure needed to advance its AI ambitions. The company anticipated those expenses would cost it about $US80 billion ($A120 billion) in the last fiscal year. Its new fiscal year began on Tuesday. Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on "building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The trimming of the Xbox staff follows Microsoft's years-long expansion of the business surrounding its gaming console, culminating in 2023 with the $US75.4 billion ($A115 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the California-based maker of hit franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Microsoft says it is laying off about 9000 workers, its second mass axing in months and its largest in more than two years. The tech giant began sending out lay-off notices on Wednesday that hit the company's Xbox video game business and other divisions. Among those losing their jobs are 830 workers tied to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials on Wednesday. Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of organisational changes needed to succeed in a "dynamic marketplace". The company won't say the total number of lay-offs except that it was about four per cent of the workforce it had a year ago. A memo to gaming division employees from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business "for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas". Xbox would "follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Spencer wrote. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of June 2024, the last time it reported its annual headcount. Its latest lay-offs would cut fewer than four per cent of that workforce, according to Microsoft. But it has already had at least three lay-offs this year and it's unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost. Either way, a four per cent cut would amount to somewhere in the range of 9000 people. Until now, this year's biggest lay-off was in May, when Microsoft began laying off about 6000 workers, nearly three per cent of its global workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years. The cutbacks come as Microsoft continues to invest huge amounts of money in the data centres, specialised computer chips and other infrastructure needed to advance its AI ambitions. The company anticipated those expenses would cost it about $US80 billion ($A120 billion) in the last fiscal year. Its new fiscal year began on Tuesday. Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on "building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The trimming of the Xbox staff follows Microsoft's years-long expansion of the business surrounding its gaming console, culminating in 2023 with the $US75.4 billion ($A115 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the California-based maker of hit franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush. Microsoft says it is laying off about 9000 workers, its second mass axing in months and its largest in more than two years. The tech giant began sending out lay-off notices on Wednesday that hit the company's Xbox video game business and other divisions. Among those losing their jobs are 830 workers tied to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials on Wednesday. Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of organisational changes needed to succeed in a "dynamic marketplace". The company won't say the total number of lay-offs except that it was about four per cent of the workforce it had a year ago. A memo to gaming division employees from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business "for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas". Xbox would "follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Spencer wrote. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of June 2024, the last time it reported its annual headcount. Its latest lay-offs would cut fewer than four per cent of that workforce, according to Microsoft. But it has already had at least three lay-offs this year and it's unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost. Either way, a four per cent cut would amount to somewhere in the range of 9000 people. Until now, this year's biggest lay-off was in May, when Microsoft began laying off about 6000 workers, nearly three per cent of its global workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years. The cutbacks come as Microsoft continues to invest huge amounts of money in the data centres, specialised computer chips and other infrastructure needed to advance its AI ambitions. The company anticipated those expenses would cost it about $US80 billion ($A120 billion) in the last fiscal year. Its new fiscal year began on Tuesday. Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on "building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The trimming of the Xbox staff follows Microsoft's years-long expansion of the business surrounding its gaming console, culminating in 2023 with the $US75.4 billion ($A115 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the California-based maker of hit franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush.
Perth Now
03-07-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Thousands of jobs go as Microsoft trims workforce again
Microsoft says it is laying off about 9000 workers, its second mass axing in months and its largest in more than two years. The tech giant began sending out lay-off notices on Wednesday that hit the company's Xbox video game business and other divisions. Among those losing their jobs are 830 workers tied to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to a notice sent to state officials on Wednesday. Microsoft said the cuts will affect multiple teams around the world, including its sales division, part of organisational changes needed to succeed in a "dynamic marketplace". The company won't say the total number of lay-offs except that it was about four per cent of the workforce it had a year ago. A memo to gaming division employees from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said the cuts would position the video game business "for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas". Xbox would "follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Spencer wrote. Microsoft employed 228,000 full-time workers as of June 2024, the last time it reported its annual headcount. Its latest lay-offs would cut fewer than four per cent of that workforce, according to Microsoft. But it has already had at least three lay-offs this year and it's unlikely that new hiring has matched the amount lost. Either way, a four per cent cut would amount to somewhere in the range of 9000 people. Until now, this year's biggest lay-off was in May, when Microsoft began laying off about 6000 workers, nearly three per cent of its global workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years. The cutbacks come as Microsoft continues to invest huge amounts of money in the data centres, specialised computer chips and other infrastructure needed to advance its AI ambitions. The company anticipated those expenses would cost it about $US80 billion ($A120 billion) in the last fiscal year. Its new fiscal year began on Tuesday. Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood said on an April earnings call that the company was focused on "building high-performing teams and increasing our agility by reducing layers with fewer managers". The trimming of the Xbox staff follows Microsoft's years-long expansion of the business surrounding its gaming console, culminating in 2023 with the $US75.4 billion ($A115 billion) acquisition of Activision Blizzard - the California-based maker of hit franchises like Call of Duty and Candy Crush.
